Saturday while housecleaning I came across a couple of patchwork bags I've made in the past. I haven't really made too many bags in all my years of patchwork but I know many Japanese women do and there are loads of books for making bags of all sorts in the bookstores and libraries. In fact there is a whole genre of books called kindergarten bags in Japan.All children when they start kindergarten in Japan need to have numerous bags to travel to and from kindergarten. Early after being accepted into a kindergarten the mother will be given instructions to buy (heaven forbid!) or make bags of certain dimensions. Now most Japanese mothers will go about this with great enthusiasm and I was no exception. This is a visual way to show the world what a loving and devoted mother you are! So books are are acquired and mothers (sometimes grandmothers) go about sewing up some bags that are going to make their child just thrilled to trot off to kindergarten!
So, just what sort of bags...? First a fairly large tote bag for carrying things like an extra change of clothes and towels and luncheon mats (all matching in my case!) Then there are the smaller bags. These are necessary for carrying a lunch box, sometimes with a separate bag for chopsticks, and a bag for a drinking cup. There are bags necessary for the toothbrush and also for the indoor school shoes. Sometimes another bag is needed for carrying home borrowed library books...
With Takumi I remember appliqueing felt pieces of cars and trucks onto the homemade tote bag. For Leiya I needle turned a pink Sunbonnet Sue like creature. I'm surprised at my handwork when I look at the pictures because I don't think too much of the colors or the fabrics that I used but I remember being quite proud of them at the time though I don't know about how the kids felt. Probably with Leiya we browsed the library books together for a pattern. (picture from 1993!)
When children get to elementary school age they are going out into the real world with store bought bags but still there are the gym clothes bags, the indoor shoe bags, the cups and toothbrush bags and the library bags. (No more lunch boxes.) Not to mention the very expensive leather randosel backpacks that are required. Poor children look so loaded down on Monday mornings!I ought to use my old bags now that they are out and photographed. They never seem to hold enough or they sag so badly with all the weight I carry around...
10 comments:
Your bags are so beautiful! I just bought 2 new bag patterns. I need a new purse so I have decided to make one to fit my needs rather than adapt my needs to the purse!
Your bags are beautiful!
Tanya, I just so love your Blog...your bringing the Japanese Culture to me. It never fails to amaze me how I would or would not fit in with the culture. Now here I would have. I love sewing and I love making things for my kids. Of course they are too big now, but when they were small they were so happy to have me make items for them. Rae Ann
Those poor children must be organised almost out of existence! I just had to make one bag for my children when they went to school, a bag for PE kit. My eldest son (now 27) still has his - a drawstring bag with his name appliqued in felt - and uses it all the time for carrying rolls of electrical tape.
Your bags are lovely, I would put them back in to service. Thank you for sharing this very interesting perspective of Japanese tradition and culture in relation to children in elementary school. Your bags for your daughter appear to be most creative and very well done.
You are so talented -- and you have been for a long time.
Those bags need to be out and about again.
Thanks also for another peek into Japanese traditions.
Yesterday, I was telling my grandsons about Japanese public baths and "not seeing." I told them I had a friend in Japan that gave me the information.
Your bags are just beautiful! I find that I am always drawn to new bag patterns. Too bad I have more patterns then bags!
Those are such beautiful bags! You should definitely be using them.
Having the right bag for each thing seems wonderful - but that is a lot of bags to carry around. I'd probably try to throw everything into one big bag. Here we load the kids down with a big book bag.
Here, I see kids with enormous back packs almost as large as they are, and probably everything is crammed in them. A little organization would probably help. Your bags are beautiful. The piecing and quilting are wonderful, especialy the one on the left, and the colors of the one on the right are so vivid. Definitely put them back in service. Perhaps adding a removable stiffened insert/organizer to keep them in shape would help you like them better. You could make one the shape of the bag, with sides, that slipped inside and gave it structure. With summer coming, I'd definitely use the red bag - how cheerful!
I found a picture on Wikipedia of a storage shelf in a Japanese school loaded with randoseru, all black and red except for one dark pink model, and it definitely stood out!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JapaneseBackpack.jpg
That's got to belong to a little girl with a real sense of style!
What are the rectangular flat cases (with shoulder straps?) that look more like briefcases?
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